Fabric



April I s. w. ALDERFER I 2,373,801

FABRIC Filed March 1'7, 1944 mvsufon STERLING W. ALDERFER Patented Apr. 17 1945 FABRIC Sterling W. Alderfer, Akron, Ohio, assignor of one-half to Edward D. Andrews, Akron; Ohio Application March 1'7, 1944, Serial No. 526,952

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to a new and improved fabric which is especially designed and intended to serve as means for holding the elements of the well known zipper fastener, although, as noted herein, it may have a wider and more general use and application. The invention may be employed wherever it may be desirable to have a fabric with a strong heavy selvage.

In a fastener of the zipper tylpe rows of metal or plastic elements are attached to theedge of a fabric or tape by crimping portions of the fasteners around an enlarged or reinforced edge of the fabric. It has been customary hitherto to make a beaded edge tape for this purpose by sewing filler strips along the edge of a tape, but

this operation increases the expense of manufacv ture, and for the manufacture of small zippers the operation of sewing. the very small filler strips is particularly dimcult.

The improved fabric illustrated and described herein is made by incorporating two cables directly on the edge of the tape during the weaving operation. The cables, one of which is on each side of the central plane of the tape, are interwoven with the bodyof the fabric by passing the successive lays of the pick or weft thread through the cables alternately, each lay of the pick thread surrounding a single strand or ply of one cable.

Each cable is preferably formed of two plies or strands which are twisted together, andthe pick thread is passed through a cable just ahead of the point at which the constituentstrands of the cable are twisted together. The cabletwisting operation is so timed with respect to the pick laying mechanism that the pick thread will engage and, surround the individual strands of the two cables in rotation.

The cable twisting operation is preferably per- 40 formed by an adaptation of the card-weaving principle in which strands of eachcable are passed through holes in arotating diskor card which forms a shed in alignment-with the shed formed by the loom heddle in the warp threads constituting the body of the tape. As a substitute for the rotating disk or card, the cable twisting operation may be done by passing the cable strands through holes in the endof a rotating tube arranged adjacent the weaving point.

'- While in the embodiment of the invention which has been illustratedeach cable is composed of only two strands, it is possible to increase the number. of strands and.- to thereby make aheavier cable. This variation is adaptable for the formation of more bulky beads in. the edge portion of the fabric. For the small zippers" two-stranded cables are preferred. Also, the two cable's may be of difierent sizes. Nor is it necessary that every lay of the pick enter a cable. The invention may likewise be applied to the manufacure of other fabrics such as screening, belting or other. types of fabrics which require a'beaded or strongly selvaged edge. Thus 10 the invention may be applied to the manufacture of any cloth in which the beaded edge is used to hold the material in a frame.

which requires reinforced edges may advantageously be made in accordance with the princi-ples of the invention.

The pick laying mechanism may be of any usual type, but for the manufacture of this new type of'fabric the pick laying mechanism shown in the Libby Patents Nos. 2,180,831 and 2,180,832

is peculiarly suitable.

In setting up a loom to manufacture the fabric of the present invention, the cable twisting devices of either type set forth are mounted on the loom so that the actual twisting of the several cables is just beyond the point at which the pick is laid in the fabric so that the cables are interlocked with the main body of the fabric by the pick thread.

In carrying out the invention the cables may be variously aplplied to and incorporated in the fabric, and the illustration given is the simplest and preferred form of the invention and is not to be understood as limiting the scope of the invention to that form or embodiment; The drawing shows a form of the new fabric I designed and intended as an edging strip or tape a on which fasteners of the so-called zipper type are mounted.

In these views:

two small cables are woven into the edge of the fabric; V Figs. 2 and3 are sections on the lines 2-! and 3-3 respectively of Fig.1; and Fig. 4 is aview looking atthe edge of the fabric. In these views A represents the body of the web and B- the beaded edge portion. The part A is composed of the usual warp threads I and the filler or pick thread 2. The body ofthe web may be woven in any .pattem. The edge portion is formed of two cables 4 and 5, each composed of two strands, the top cable 4, as shown in the drawing, being composed of the strands a and b and the lower cable 5 of the strands c and d. The 5 two strands of each cable are twisted together Any fabric Fig. 1 is a plan view of a. piece of tape in which I -by either method se'rkforthand the pick thread is passedthrough the cable and around a strand of each cable alternately. The cable twisting is also timed so that the pick thread will engage strands of the two cables alternately. Thus, the ick will, for example, be looped around strand 1; in cable 4, then about strand d in cable 5, about strand b in cable 4 and strand c in cable 5. Qlfhe order of weaving is immaterial but it is preferable that the pick thread engage the strands in regular order or rotation. This is accomplished by synchronizing the cable twisting operating with the operation of the loom which forms the body of the tape so that sheds in the cablcsare presented in position successively to receive each pick as it is laid in the, body of the tape. 7

Numerous variations and adaptations of the invention will be suggested by the examples which have been given. The preferred form of the in- Y vention will be characterized by the presence of two cables on opposite sides of the fabric body, each 'cable being formed by twisting two or more strands together and by the presence 01' pick threads which are woven with the usual warp threads to form the body of the fabric and also pass through the cables alternately so that each strand of each cable is woven at regular intervals into the body of the fabric.

While it maybe desirable to locatethe two reinforcing cables at the extreme edged the fabric, the invention in its broader aspects, would be achieved by weaving warp threads into the fabricbeyond the reinforcement.

What is claimed is:

1. A fabric having a body portion and a reinforced portion, the body portion being composed of warp threads and a pick thread interwoven therewith, the reinforced portion being composed of two cables on opposite sides of the body portion, the pick thread passing throughpoth cables.

2. A fabric having a body portion and a reinforced portion, the body portion being composed of warp threads and a pick thread interwoven two cables on opposite sides or the body portion,

each cable being composed of at least two strands composed of warp threads and a pick thread interwoven therewith, the double beaded reinforcement being formed by two cables on opposite sides of the body portion, each cable being composed of at least two strands twisted together, the pick thread being passed through the cables alternately and successively surrounding the several strands of both cables. I

5. A fabric having a body portion. and a double beaded edge, the bodybeing composed o! warp threads and a pick thread interwoven therewith, the double headed edge being iormed by two cables on opposite sides of the body portion, each cable belngcomposed of at least two strands twisted together, the pick thread being passed through the cables, each lay of the pick thread surrounding one strand of a cable.

6. A iabric having a body portion and adouble beaded edge, the body portion being composed of war-p threads and a pick thread interwoven therewith, the double beaded edge being formed by two cables on opposite sides of the body -portherewith, the reinforcedportion being formed by tion, each cable being composed of at least two strands twisted together, the. pick thread being passed through the cables, successive Jays of the pick thread surrounding theseveral strands of both cables in rotation.

STERLING W. 

